Vidyo Neo for Desktop: About Version 17.1

What's New in this Release

Here's what's new in this release:

Far End Camera Control

When you're in a video meeting with a VidyoRoom™ system, you may at times wish you could adjust the far-end camera to get a better view. If you’re a doctor, for example, wouldn't it be helpful if you could zoom in to monitor a patient’s IV drip? Or if someone else pops into the conference room, wouldn't it be nice if you could pan the camera to see that other person? With the Far End Camera Control (FECC) feature, you can do just that.

FECC works for VidyoRoom systems which have a supported camera that’s capable of panning, tilting, and zooming. In addition, this feature is available for registered users only (not for guest users).

You can access all the controls you need to adjust a participant’s camera by clicking the participant's name in the Participants panel and selecting from the drop-down.

Custom Invocation

Third-party partners, developers, and admins: you can now customize the Vidyo Neo client experience and workflow. Vidyo Neo lets you easily choose which features and functionality you can enable and disable for all your users.

Here’s a small sampling of the Custom Invocation parameters that you can change:

Enabling and disabling the left panel to better manage the real estate of the screen.

Bypassing the Welcome, Beauty, and Login pages to provide users with direct access to a conference.

Muting all participants’ microphones or cameras upon entry into a call.

You can also invoke Vidyo Neo with iFrames. iFrames are the pre-call, in-call, and post-call URLs that allow you to load content from your domain or a third-party system into Vidyo Neo per tenant. For example, you can use iFrames to:

Display your own Welcome page.

Display content around the main in-call window (such as the names of the participants in the call).

Display a thank-you message at the end of each call.

For more information about the powerful new Custom Invocation feature, see the Custom Invocation of Vidyo Neo Technical Note.

Microsoft® Outlook® and Google Calendar™ Integration

Vidyo Neo for Desktop can now remind you of every Vidyo meeting you have scheduled on your Microsoft Outlook calendar and your Google Calendar.

All you have to do to join the meetings is click the reminder that pops-up five minutes before the meeting is scheduled to start.

The reminder pop-ups appear on your Vidyo Neo app whether or not you’re in a call.

You can also see the full list of your meetings for the day by clicking in the Participants and Search panel. The list displays each meeting’s name, organizer, and start time.

Theater Mode

When you select Theater Mode as your video layout, the participant who’s currently speaking is displayed in a larger tile (known as the theater screen). If content is shared, the theater screen will split between the shared content and the active speaker.

If you want a certain participant to remain in a bigger tile even when others speak, you can hover over that participant’s tile to expand it, and then click to pin it to the larger size.

Theater Mode is the default, but you can easily toggle between Gallery View (where all the tiles are the same size) and Theater Mode by clicking and on your Vidyo Neo in-call screen.

Redesigned Meeting Invitations

This release of Vidyo Neo introduces a completely revamped look for meeting invitations. In addition to plain text invitations, you can now send HTML invites via email.

By using the variables that we provide in the Admin UI, you can easily add details to your meeting invitations, such as the user’s title, display name, avatar, tenant logo, and local and international dial-in numbers.

For more information about how to customize the invite text, refer to the VidyoConferencing Administrator Guide version 17.1.0.

Intuitive Recording

Want to record your video meeting so you can refer to it later, use it for training, or share it with colleagues who were unable to attend? For organizations that have recording capabilities, Vidyo Neo makes it easy for users to record meetings.

All recordings are stored in the same place they are stored today.

If you’re the conference moderator, you can simply open the Participants and Search panel in the Vidyo Neo app, and click to begin recording your meeting. You can also pause and stop the recording from the same panel.

Participants’ Camera and Microphone Status

Along with the name of everyone in the call, the Participants panel now displays icons indicating whether the participant’s camera and microphone are muted.

Registered users can see the camera and mic status of all participants, whereas guest users cannot see the device status of any participants.

MSI Installer

With version 17.1, we offer a Windows MSI installer for Vidyo Neo for Desktop. If you’re an enterprise user, you can use this MSI installer package to make Vidyo Neo available via your enterprise distribution systems.

The Vidyo Neo for Desktop MSI currently lets you pass the VidyoPortal™ address as a parameter so that the users on your tenant do not need to manually enter the VidyoPortal address when they log in.

Compatibility

To determine which version of the VidyoPortal™ your Vidyo Neo for Desktop release is compatible with, refer to the Vidyo compatibility matrix article.

The following table defines the compatibility between Vidyo Neo for Desktop version 17.1.x and OS platforms.

Compatible Windows® Platforms

Compatible Mac® OS X Platforms

Windows 8.1 32-bit and 64-bit

Mac OS X 10.10.x

Windows 10 32-bit and 64-bit

Mac OS X 10.11.x

Mac OS X 10.12.x

Resolved and Known Issues

This section lists the resolved and known issues in this release of Vidyo Neo for Desktop.

Resolved Issues

The following table lists the resolved issues in Vidyo Neo for Desktop version 17.1:

Vidyo Neo for Desktop Version 17.1 - Resolved Issues

Key

Summary

NEP-6161

A specific case where Vidyo Neo crashed when joining a call has been resolved.

NEP-6542

If a Vidyo Neo for Desktop user calls a VidyoRoom™ system or joins a call with a VidyoRoom system, and then the VidyoRoom user starts sharing content, the Vidyo Neo user can continue to use FECC to control the VidyoRoom camera.

NEP-5856

Vidyo Neo users can now log in if their hostname uses non-English characters.

NEP-4918

Vidyo Neo now correctly estimates the bitrate; in previous versions, underestimation had resulted in missing video streams and reduced quality during calls.

NEP-4400

When a new meeting space is created with Vidyo Neo on a Mac®, the room link now appears right away (rather than after the user joins a call).

NEP-1640

If Vidyo Neo is launched and maximized on an external display, and then the external display is disconnected, when Vidyo Neo is re-launched, the window size no longer increases (as if to fit the larger display).

Known Issues

The following table lists the known issues in Vidyo Neo for Desktop version 17.1:

Vidyo Neo for Desktop Version 17.1 - Known Issues

Key

Summary

NEP-6825

When the Windows® MSI installer file is installed on a machine that never had Vidyo Neo on it before, and then “Vidyo Neo” is clicked on the Start menu, Vidyo Neo does not launch.

Workaround: Click “Vidyo Neo” on the Start menu again; it will launch for the second and all subsequent clicks.

NEP-6706

The “Joining the call” message continues to display for three to four seconds after all the video tiles appear.

NEP-6674

When Vidyo Neo is downloaded from the VidyoPortal™ and the installer is launched, the message “Vidyo Neo is an application downloaded from the Internet. Are you sure you want to open it?” appears twice.

NEP-6630

During a Vidyo Neo call, if a link is sent via chat or calendar and a user clicks the link using their middle mouse button, the link is opened in a new Vidyo Neo window rather than in a browser window, eventually causing the application to become unusable or crash. The same issue occurs if the Send invitation or Moderate call buttons are clicked using the middle mouse button during a Vidyo Neo call.

NEP-6431

When a user has more than one display and shares a PowerPoint® slideshow when Presenter View is enabled, both the slideshow and Presenter View are shared.

NEP-6213

When in Theater Mode, if all cameras are muted and then unmuted from the Control Meeting page, only one tile appears.

Workaround: Switch to Gallery View to see all the tiles or disconnect and rejoin the call.

NEP-6035

If a user tries to join a room as a guest, but the join fails (from, for example, a network disconnection or a network timeout), the camera turns off and the user can no longer see their self-view.

Workaround: Click on the guest link to join again.

NEP-6000

If a user has the room details page open at the same time the admin sets a PIN for the room, when the user clicks the Join button, they will not be asked to enter the PIN nor will they be able to join the room.

Workaround: Re-open the room details page. You will then be asked to enter the PIN.

NEP-5988

The room status does not get refreshed every two minutes.

NEP-5956

If a monitor is shared from a Mac, the other participants in the conference see the shared monitor but they also see the highlighted borders and the Share icon.

NEP-5926

If a conference participant selects an application to share and then minimizes the application, that participant’s view will appear as if they are sharing the content, but the remote users will not see the shared content.

NEP-5776

When the VidyoPortal is configured to not Allow Public Room creation by users, the + button (which enables the creation of new public rooms) appears for a few seconds after the Neo application starts

NEP-5622

When using a Mac and sharing content, occasionally the “This video will resume when the remote connection improves” may appear on the tile that is displaying the shared content.

NEP-5526

If a user is on a call for at least 10 or 15 minutes and then clicks the Moderate Call button, they are prompted for their username and password.

Workaround: Click the Moderate Call button again to access the Control Meeting screen.

NEP-5311

When using Windows® 8.1 64-bit or Windows 10, if a PowerPoint® is shared in edit mode and then switched to slide show mode, edit mode is still shown to the conference participants.

NEP-4921

If a user’s camera is being used by an application other than Vidyo Neo, and then the user joins a call with Vidyo Neo, that user will not see a notification that their camera is in use by another application.

NEP-4802

Due to an Apple® limitation, when sharing the Mail application on a Mac®, the minimized view of Vidyo Neo for Desktop is also shared.

NEP-4801

Due to an OS limitation, while a participant is sharing their screen, the green outline that appears around the shared content does not include the taskbar even though the other conference participants can actually see the taskbar.

NEP-4713

Due to an OS limitation, when a participant views the list of apps available to share, Safari® windows are shown as “Untitled” and Chrome™ windows are shown as “New Tab”.

NEP-4567

Occasionally, a conference participant using a Plantronics C720-M headset cannot be heard by the other participants in the conference.

NEP-4313

Due to a limitation in Outlook on a Mac, when a meeting is scheduled via Vidyo Neo on a Mac, the attendees’ availability information does not appear.

NEP-4214

When using Windows® and certain peripheral devices, such as the Plantronics® C435-M headset, Vidyo Neo for Desktop may keep the microphone engaged after the call ends.

Workaround: To disengage the microphone, quit the Vidyo Neo for Desktop application.

NEP-4169

After undocking the PC from a docking station, all devices including those that were connected to the docking station still appear on the Settings > Devices page.

NEP-4161

The tracer and share icon are not restored when the shared application is restored from minimized state.

NEP-4136

Joining calls is not possible if web proxy is enabled with authentication after logging in. This still occurs even after removing the web proxy.

Workaround: Log out and then log back in again.

NEP-4047

Echo can be heard for approximately one second after a headset is disconnected from a MacBook Pro® or a MacBook®.

NEP-3890

When a user loses their network connection before accepting an incoming direct call, the ringing continues until the call times out.

NEP-3827

No notification is displayed to the caller when they initiate a direct call in a VidyoPortal where Scheduled Rooms have been disabled.

NEP-3826

On the contact detail page, the contact’s presence does not reliably refresh (for example, if a contact’s presence shows as “Busy” while they are in a call, that contact may still appear as “Busy” on their contact details page after they leave the call).

Workaround: Search for the contact again to refresh the presence information.

NEP-3685

The incorrect CDR call completion code displays when the call is ended by the caller.

The “Invite this user” button only appears near a contact’s name on the Contacts list when the cursor hovers over that contact’s name.

NEP-3648

If a call is initiated from the Missed Call notification, Vidyo Neo places the call even if the person being called is offline.

NEP-3635

If a user returns a call to a second user from the Missed Call notification at the same time the second user is calling them again, the incoming call notification still appears.

NEP-3544

On rare occasions, while a user is viewing the Join screen, they may be unknowingly sending their video into a call for a few seconds before they see the in-call screen.

NEP-3486

When using Windows® 10, the Ctrl+Shift+T keyboard shortcut does not open the Statistics window.

NEP-3467

If the network is slow and a user is the first participant to join a call, the user sees a “[username] has joined the conference” message instead of the “You’re the only person in the call” message.

NEP-3207

When a user has a mail application open as well as some open emails, the Available Shares list displays the mail application and other open applications, but it does not display the open emails.

NEP-3187

If a user has more than one display and shares the main display, the video window does not move to the non-shared display.

NEP-3186

PowerPoint® slides in Slideshow mode cannot be shared when using a Mac.

NEP-3112

When all UDP and TCP ports are blocked except for ports 80 and 443, logging in to Vidyo Neo and joining calls with Vidyo Neo takes between 15 and 30 seconds longer than when the UDP and TCP ports are not blocked.

NEP-3077

Network changes and user/tenant information retrieved from VidyoPortal is not refreshed after login is completed.

NEP-3015

While in a call, a user cannot set a room access code for any of their public rooms except for the room that they’re currently in.

NEP-3006

If a user who is using Chrome or Firefox® on Windows shares an application and then switches to another tab to share a different application, the remote viewers continue to see the first application that was shared.

NEP-2853

When sharing an application in a call, the application's drop-downs are not shared.

NEP-2823

After launching the HTML-CM of the public room, selecting the “Mute audio and allow participants to re-enable” option from HTML-CM, unmuting locally from Vidyo Neo, and selecting the “Disable video and allow participants to re-enable” option from HTML-CM, both the audio and video is disabled.

NEP-2665

If a user clicks the “Moderate” button more than one time while in the same room, that user is prompted to enter their user name and password again.

NEP-2657

When two or more users start sharing content simultaneously, none of the shared content is displayed.

NEP-2557

White noise may be heard by the conference participants when a Vidyo Neo participant on a Mac speaks while using open mic.

NEP-2308

If Vidyo Neo is installed on a system that already has another Vidyo product installed, the number of installs increases by one on the Super and Admin Portal System License pages.

NEP-2129

If a Tenant admin changes the name of a room, Vidyo Neo users do not see the new room name in the UI until they log out and log back in.

NEP-1826

When using Windows, if a participant shares his/her monitor during a call, the other participants see a highlighted border and the Share icon along with the shared monitor.

NEP-1545

The list of Available Shares shows multiple thumbnails for Microsoft Office for Mac applications.

NEP-1077

The order of the Available Shares list only updates when Vidyo Neo is restarted.

NEP-347

If an update is made to a contact’s information (such as the first or last name, email address, etc.), the information doesn’t appear on Vidyo Neo until the application is restarted.

Groups are special designations of users who have the common attributes, such as the maximum number of users in a call and the maximum bandwidth allowed per call. Admins can configure groups using the VidyoPortal Admin interface. As an admin, you should be aware that if you set the Max Receive Bandwidth Per User and Max Transmit Bandwidth Per User for a group, Vidyo Neo version 4.2.0 users will not adhere to these configurations. For more information about configuring groups, see the VidyoConferencing Administrator Guide.